Summary: Xavier is being mysterious, and Lucia struggles to puzzle out his purpose in this forest.
a/n: Alright, I think my new schedule is going to be posts on Saturdays. I keep aiming for Friday, and just never hit the mark, posting on Saturday anyway.
Cross-posted on AO3 and Quotev
Word Count: 3k
Master List
Previous Chapter I More Soon...
“It’s only a sprained ankle,” Lucia sighs, rubbing at the tender joint now wrapped in clean white bandages. Her black boot lay beside her on the ground, and the man called Xavier stood nearby, carefully polishing his sword while she tended to her injury.
“I suppose I should thank you for your help,” Lucia admits, though it was his trap that injured her in the first place. He doesn’t respond, prompting her to look up at him. The silence that stretches between them feels tense and awkward, and the young woman finds herself searching for ways to fill it.
“I… didn’t expect us to meet again so soon,” She says.
“And I didn’t expect you to be brave enough to come here alone,” comes his flat reply. Lucia blinks owlishly at him in the dim moonlight. Was he… angry with her? The brief admonishing glare he sends her way seems to suggest as much before he returns his attentions to his blade.
She frowns at him.
“I didn’t have a choice,” She says defensively, reaching for her boot to pull it back on over her bandaged foot. “My partner went missing.”
Just the same as before, Xavier acts as if he didn’t hear what she said, not acknowledging in the slightest that he was her wayward partner for this mission. Instead, he banishes his sword and stands up straight, staring off into the dense forest surrounding them.
“The energy fluctuations make it easy to get lost,” He explains briefly, looking down at her before nodding his head towards the treeline. “You should leave-- now that you hurt your ankle.”
“What about you?” Lucia demands, her pride feeling a little rankled, but logically knowing he had a point. Even a small injury was a potentially deadly variable in a No-Hunt zone. Even so, he was supposed to be a hunter too, right? They were supposed to stick together. “Aren’t you worried about getting lost? Oh-- wait,” She starts, cutting herself off. “I forgot, you can just--” She spreads her hands in a “poof” gesture. “--vanish whenever you want.”
Okay, maybe she was still a little bitter he didn't show up to the rendezvous. Who could blame her? Rory was right, this guy didn't seem very reliable so far. Part of her still doubted this was even the same hunter her sisters mentioned. He could be, based on some pieces, but others… was she crazy? He really did seem way too young to be a seasoned hunter, but she’d also seen how strong he was. She saw how he handled that Wanderer with such ease, and that teleportation ability he had was also an asset in a place like this. Was it really so impossible that he was the same Xavier who kept outperforming Rory in the Deepspace Trials? She didn’t know what to think anymore. Maybe he just looked younger than he was?
Lucia blinks, realizing Xavier had chosen to kneel beside her. Gently, he helped her pull her boot back on, his hands steady and careful near her sore ankle.
“This forest isn't scary because of the unpredictable Metaflux surges,” He says, carefully tightening the strap before propping his arm on his knee and looking up at her. “Many Tenebrae came here seeking the high-grade Protocores to sell on the market.”
Lucia swallowed thickly-- Tenebra is the term Hunters use to refer to those who break the Hunters' code and engage in illegal activities. Usually, she only heard the term in passing-- hushed whispers and murmured rumors in dark corners. She imagined she might hear it more now that she was a full-fledged Hunter, having to investigate them herself. But this…
“But after obtaining them,” The man continued with a severe expression. “The Hunters were never seen again.”
Lucia feels her brow crease in confusion. “Why?” She can't help but ask, curiosity and anticipation getting the better of her. Xavier doesn't respond right away. Instead, the space between them is filled with the whisper of wind rustling through the trees, the distant rumblings of Wanderers. After a long, tense moment, it almost felt as if…
“This forest is alive,” Xavier echoed, as if reading her thoughts, his gaze steadfast as it locked onto hers. “It consumed them.”
The shadows of the forest seemed to crowd in on them after his declaration. Lucia felt her heart tremble and waver, the weight of his tone carrying something deeper. His expression didn't betray any deception. He truly believed the words he spoke. Yet there remained a part of Lucia that was skeptical. This wasn't a man who was simply trying to warn her away. No-- he wanted to scare her, to make her leave and not come back.
“Nice try,” The blonde says with more confidence than she feels. “But scaring me won't work.”
Xavier doesn't deny it. In fact, he seems almost impressed as he looks away, casting his eyes to the side with the barest hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.
“You have guts,” he remarks before looking back at her. “I hope it serves you well.”
Lucia creased her brow again, not liking the implications behind his words. Xavier stands from his crouched position, the smile fading from his expression, but the warmth of it somehow lingered.
“We’re not far from the edge of the forest,” He starts, looking back in the direction Lucia had initially come from. “You’ll be able to get to safety from here.”
Then he turns to walk in the opposite direction, clearly heading deeper into the forest.
“Wait,” Lucia calls. “What about you?”
His stride slows to a stop, but he doesn’t turn to face her. Lucia lets out a sigh. “I don’t know why you didn’t show up to the rendezvous, but I can guess you don’t care that much about the Hunters commission. If you’re not here to follow the Association's orders,” Lucia starts with a heavy sinking feeling in her stomach. “Then… why are you here?”
Xavier pauses only for the barest moment before he speaks.
“Take care of yourself,” Is his only response before he walks into the shadow of the treeline.
Lucia, suffice to say, is disappointed by the man's lack of a response. Maybe she was still too new to the association, but it simply didn’t make sense for him to be out here on his own. Part of her worried for the strange man's safety in this forest, but the other part remembered just how easily he had dispatched that massive Wanderer.
The thought crossed her mind that he may have been a Tenebrae. It wasn’t an impossibility by any means. But the young woman couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn’t right. There was just something about him-- an air he carried that spoke of honor. She didn’t think he’d be the type to break the rules for personal gain.
But that begged the question once more-- what did he want?
Kaliyah was right-- this guy was difficult to read.
The woman sits back on the rock again, heaving a weary sigh. This whole night was leaving her with more questions than answers, and she’s barely even done anything besides get lost and fall into a trap.
A creeping fog enshrouds the moonlight, making Lucia’s small clearing even darker as the evening wind creeps through her ears like a distant sob. She knew she couldn’t stay here-- it was only a matter of time before something wandered across her path. She gingerly moves her ankle, trying to decide how difficult her journey out of the No-Hunt Zone was going to be.
The woman lifts her watch, though she already knows what she’ll find-- No signal, the system still unable to connect to any other hunters in the near area. As far as this device knew, she was on her own.
She glances briefly at the spot where Xavier disappeared. No use sitting around anymore, she supposed.
The woman stood up slowly, carefully bearing weight on her injured ankle. It was definitely a little sore, but if she moved slowly, she suspected she’d get out just fine-- so long as she didn’t run into any trouble.
A Wanderer’s roar cuts through the night. Lucia instinctively reaches for her sword, the weapon materializing in a spray of embers that illuminate the clearing. That sounded uncomfortably close. Was it Xavier? Did he run into trouble already?
Lucia considered following the sound to reach him, her hand tightening around her sword. But no-- she shouldn’t worry about him. If anything, it’s the wanderer who should worry about him.
But Lucia had a mission to complete. She had barely cleared even a fraction of the zone she was assigned. Could she really just… leave?
The Hunter's code says no Hunter should fight alone. She was also injured-- turning back seemed like the smarter option at this point. Kaliyah was definitely going to kill her for the trouble-- probably Aveline too, but that was only if she could get out of there unscathed.
The leaves rustle behind her, and Lucia spins quickly. Her ankle throbs from the sudden movement, but she grits her teeth and ignores it. A familiar figure emerges from the brush, bright blue eyes blinking at her in confusion.
“You’re…” Xavier starts. Lucia blinks back at him, just as confused.
“Why did you come back?” She asks. Her question seems to catch him off guard. He looks at their surroundings, his eyes lingering on the rock where she was resting only a moment ago.
No way. Was he lost?
Xavier turns away from her, clearing his throat.
“There are many Wanderers here,” He starts, clearly trying to save face. Lucia lowers her sword, unable to help the way her lips curl in amusement at his obvious embarrassment. “I’ve already taken care of some of them. It should be safe for you to leave.”
The blonde presses her lips together to suppress her bubbling smile.
“Uh… thanks,” She says with a slight waver of laughter in her voice. It was an ironic moment, after all, considering how he left her here only a few minutes ago. If she were Rory, or even Giselle, she might have teased him ruthlessly for it.
“You’re welcome,” comes Xavier's reply. Lucia presses her lips together harder before letting him walk back into the forest.
Once he disappears into the forest's shadow, she lets out a snort, laughing quietly to himself. Serves him right after all the trouble he’s caused her--
Another wail from Wanderer interrupts her thoughts. He must have run into more already.
Lucia takes a deep breath. Enough standing around-- which direction was the exit again?
The woman tried making her way back out the way she’d come-- truly, she did. But she’d only been walking for a few minutes, keeping herself hidden in the shadows, when a beam of light cleaves through the shrubs and dissolves her shadows. Amidst the flurry of leaves and branches, Lucia and Xavier lock eyes once more.
“Ah,” Lucia starts. “Let me guess-- you cleared out the Wanderers in this area, too?”
Xavier hesitates for only a moment.
“Yes…” Is his short response.
Lucia nods her head.
“I appreciate it,” She told him, which wasn’t a lie. Fighting alone in her state would be difficult, to say the least. It was a happy coincidence that he was, once again, lost.
As amusing as it was to run into him twice, it was considerably less so as she continued to wander the woods, looking for the way out. It took only a few minutes before the pair crossed paths a third time under one of Lucia’s markers. Lucia pressed her lips together once more, this time in her own embarrassment as she found herself in the same predicament as her wayward partner. Xavier, seeing this, seems to relax a bit.
“I’ve been thinking,” He starts casually. “Leaving an injured teammate behind isn't a good idea.”
Lucia lets out a small breath of relief.
“And leaving you to fight alone just seems careless,” She agrees, just as casually. “So, we should team up then?”
Xavier nods his agreement. “Besides,” He starts, holding out a hand to her. “It’s too dark for you to see out here.”
Lucia snorts. The shadows have never been an obstruction for her. Her Evol allows her to sense the presence of anything that dwells within them, be they living things or simple obstructions.
But sure-- whatever he needs to believe to spare himself from discomfiture. Lucia places her hand in his and leans on him as he guides her through the woods.
Together, they managed to find their way back to the clearing where they initially met up.
“Well, we should at least sync up our watches,” Lucia sighs, sitting down on a tree stump to get the weight off her foot. Xavier says nothing as she pulls up her watch. Over a greater distance, it made sense that their watches hadn't been able to detect each other in a No-Hunt Zone. But, with any luck, being right next to each other would help matters significantly.
Her watch, however, seemed to disagree.
“‘Identity verification failed?’” She reads aloud, her brows scrunched. “Is the interference in the zone that strong?”
She tries again-- and again. Each time, the watch's screen illuminates her partner's face as it claims it can’t identify him. After the fifth attempt, Lucia lowers her arm in frustration.
“Is my uniform not enough?” He asks. Lucia frowns, her eyes tracing up and down the crisp white of hsi hunters garb. At this point, it wasn’t as though she didn’t believe he was who he said. Despite the suspicious behavior and discrepancies from her sister's stories, she didn’t think he was untrustworthy.
Be that as it may, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important he wasn’t telling her-- something she was missing.
“Anyone can wear a uniform,” She tells him, turning off her watch and the shadows softening the details of his face once more. “I don’t see any reason not to confirm the details.”
If their tech wouldn’t help her, then she would have to resort to some old-school methods.
“Tell me something only a UNICORNS hunter would know,” Lucia prompts him, crossing one knee over the other and propping her chin on her palm.
Xavier crosses his own arms, curling his fingers in front of his mouth contemplatively for a moment.
“During the Chronorift Catastrophe,” He begins to recite. “The first Wanderer to be killed was Tezcatlipoca. It happened--”
“Any teenager with access to the internet could look that up,” Lucia interrupts him. “Try again.”
Xavier lowers his arms, staring at her for a moment that seems to stretch into an eternity. He lets out a soft sigh, then raises his hand, palm up between them. Lucia watches as a soft light gathers in the air around them, flecks of starlight glittering in an assortment of constellations. Lucia was captivated as the light moved along his fingers, transforming into golden threads that stretched the expanse between them and forming a pattern composed of several diamond shapes..
Surrounded by radiant light, Xavier stares at her, waiting for her to speak. At his expectant gaze, Lucia falters.
“Uh,” She starts. “It… looks pretty?” She says, feeling oddly nervous about her answer.
He closes his eyes for a moment, then meets her gaze again.
“Does it look familiar to you at all?” He asks, a strange vulnerability in his eye. Lucia looks at the golden patterns again, watching the way they shimmer. They truly were beautiful, but she couldn’t say they were familiar.
Finally, she shakes her head.
“Should it be?”
His expression is still passive, but the reflection of the light in his eye seems to dim at her question. As the pattern flickers and fades, she thinks that maybe she imagined it.
“You’ll see it soon,” he whispers. “Keep an eye out for any ruins. This pattern can appear on the Flux Nexus.”
“The what now?”
“It’s a device that captures Metaflux,” He answers without blinking. “It’s also the source of the fluctuations here.” That statement gets Lucia’s attention, making her sit up straighter. “Our mission will be complete once we find it.”
“You know what’s causing the fluctuations?” She asks in surprise. He gives her a slight smile of amusement.
“Has my identity been confirmed?” He asks teasingly. Lucia blinks rapidly. She’d nearly forgotten that’s what she had been asking him about.
“No,” She says, leaning back again as her mind races through the information. “The objective said nothing about a pattern or Flux Nexus. Assuming you didn’t just make it up, how did you get this information?”
She wanted to trust him-- but with every moment she spent in this man's presence, he just kept getting more and more suspicious.
Xavier-- just who was he?
Xavier seemed caught by her questions, shaking his head slowly.
“Forget it,” He sighs. “Just think of me as a normal hunter who--”
Rustling in the brush draws both of their attention. Lucia feels her heart leap as she jumps to her feet, ignoring the ache in her ankle again, whilst she summons her sword. Xavier, too, put up his guard, positioning himself ahead of the dark-skinned woman. The foliage parts a moment later, revealing--
“Kali?” Lucia gasps, watching her sister sink her claymore six inches into the dirt after cutting away the branches in her path. Her red eyes snap up, locking on the soft purple of her sisters-- and her expression hardens in an instant.
“You,” She growls lowly, releasing her sword and planting her hands on her hips with a harsh puff of air. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?”
Previous Chapter I More Soon...
Master List
a/n: You guys didn't really think the sisters were just gonna leave Lucia on her own, did you? As always, please like or comment, or even reblog. The feedback does wonders to keep me motivated and writing.
Legit question...Is this only a major red flag because I'm in the US? Like MC is obviously upset about not being told, but the fact that Grandma just laughs it off??? "Oh, Caleb, A decisive man as always." About, ya know....putting her in a home without even talking about things with EITHER of them????
I still side-eye hard that he was trying to get Grandma out of his hair with MC....or was he trying to get Grandma out of that house before something happened? 'Cause I still think he knew a lot more than what he let on during this visit.
This motherfucker....He being shady as shit, too around MC during all this! And "I'm the only one can protect you" bs....And once again lying/hiding the truth from her 😒
